Memorial
by KentuckyChicken
Summary: Even after the war, Silena was still a sour subject to Clarisse. A moment by the lake shared between a daughter of Ares and a son of Hermes.


**Memorial  
><strong>_by KentuckyChicken_

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><p>It was a perfectly normal day at Camp Half-Blood. Satyrs were running back and forth following pointers from various gods to retrieve their children and bring them to camp. The veterans – or at least the claimed ones in Hermes cabin but not actually children of the gods – were finishing up their new cabins and moving in. Lou Ellen had taken over the Hecate cabin and was enjoying the various magic books her mother had thoughtfully sent over. Hypnos's kids stayed awake long enough to comment about the niceness of the bed before crashing down and snoring the day away. The newly-found Nike cabin was challenging the Athena cabin to a chariot race. From the looks of it and the leering pair of Ares boys heading toward them, there would be a battle soon, and it wouldn't necessarily be fought with standard weapons.<p>

Yes, it was _perfectly_ normal. Save for one thing. Clarisse la Rue wasn't making a ruckus.

"How come you're so quiet today?" Chris asked, leaning back on his heels and giving his companion a curious look.

Clarisse gave him a distracted glare, then returned her gaze to the lake. It was flat and peaceful at this time of the day save for a few naiads jumping like dolphins across the water surface from time to time. The campers' clamor sounded far away, blocked by the trees and the blowing winds. This was why she'd picked this spot. Peace and quiet wasn't something she needed to live – conflicts, battles and excitement were – but she had had quite enough of those three for now.

She didn't reply to Chris's question. She didn't need to. He was smart enough to figure it out himself. And eventually, he must have, because he stopped staring at her and cloud-watched instead, humming an absent little tune to himself.

"For Ares!" somebody roared behind them. An explosion followed.

"You missed!" someone else shouted back. "Haha – Oh, shit–"

This explosion shook the earth itself, and not a few seconds later the smell of smoke and burning pines followed. Naiads leaped out of the lake, carrying buckets of water as they rushed past the two campers on the shore to the fire, shouting and cursing in Italian, Ancient Greek, and English.

Chris smiled indulgently. "Some things never change," he remarked.

Clarisse snorted, rolling her eyes. "Some things do," she muttered. It was too low for even her to hear correctly, but Chris tilted his head and gave her a concerned look. She ignored him, lacking the energy to even glare back or give a snappish respond.

After a few tense moments, Chris let the matter drop once more and fell back until he was leaning against the boulder behind him, folding his arms to use as a pillow. They listened to the shouting and cursing behind them and the accusations flying back and forth, but neither of them got up to see if it would come to a head. It wouldn't. The war was just over, and after the battles they had fought together, even the Ares kids were less inclined to pick serious fights. They were closer to each other now than ever before, to each other personally, and if there wasn't friendship then there was at least comradeship.

War was a two-edged blade. It will take many things from you, but it will give you just as many in return. Clarisse just wished she'd had a choice of what to give up and what to keep.

In a moment of pure nostalgia, she asked, "Do you think she's happy?"

Chris considered his answer. "I think she is," he said carefully. "She's with Beckendorf now, and nobody would judge her, down there."

Clarisse kicked a rock lying nearby. It flew into the lake and sank, creating wide ripples that she imagined would reach the other side of the lake, too. "Why did she do it?" she said bitterly. "I mean I know _why_, but – why _that_ way?"

The son of Hermes closed his eyes. "She wanted to repair the damages she had caused. Would you have forgiven her if she just walks up to you one day, show you the silver scythe charm, and say 'sorry'?"

"If she wants to repair the damages, she could have _lived_," Clarisse argued, picking up another rock and tossing it. This time it skipped across the water surface until it hit a tree on the other side. The blessing of Ares still hadn't worn off after all these days, and Clarisse thought it would stick around for awhile yet – at least remnants of it.

Chris watched her calmly. Then, when she had regained her composure, he straightened and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it. "People have different ways to redeem themselves, Clarisse," he said gently and tried not to cringe at the reminder of his own betrayal of the camp. "You can't blame them for which path they chose. Just remember that we won this because of Silena, and that she's our friend from the beginning to the end."

The daughter of Ares said nothing for a long while. Her eyes were tinged with the slightest shade of red, but she blinked them away before they could form into embarrassing tears. It wouldn't do to let everyone hear the counselor of Ares cabin cry like a little girl. She had a reputation to keep, after all.

But she said nothing as Chris wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pressed the side of his head against hers.

The winds blew, and the trees trembled in their wake. The lake still remained mysteriously calm. Clarisse wasn't one for symbolism, but she thought that it reflected her friend's state of mind right now, deep in Elysium.

Wherever she was, Clarisse only hoped that Silena would be happy.

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><p><em>Review, please?<em>


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